Stupid in Love
by tvdstoriesxo
Summary: This is a D/E story, where Stefan has just gone off the rails slightly in season one. I have always thought that if he went really off the rails it would be quite interesting, so I am going to give it my best shot! A few things may be changed, as a warning! This story will also include S/K, but later on. Mostly Delena, but it is a slow burn one. Rated M just in case! Enjoy!
1. The Breaking

**Hi everyone! This is my first fan fiction, and I am very thrilled to be writing this one! This chapter will be a SHORT one, because I just wanted to give you all a basic introduction to my story. BTW, the POVs will be switching, although I am not sure how often, yet. I would be very happy if some people left some reviews. Enjoy!**

ELENA'S POV

As I was in the parking lot with Bonnie, twenty minutes before school started, I saw Stefan's car being parked.

"I'll catch up with you later, Bonnie." I gave her a smile, and then I made my way over to Stefan's car. I was very shocked that he was back in school, when his blood cravings have been slightly out of control. If I told myself that I felt completely safe being around Stefan while he was in this state of mind, I would be lying to myself. His personality seemed to have a drastic change, which was unsettling. He seemed on edge, and angry. If I were to ask if anything was going on, he would snap. That is what scared me the most. "You're back awfully soon. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, Elena. I don't want to miss too much school. Not that it really matters at this point." He seemed arrogant, which reminded me of Damon. The only difference was, as much as I hated Damon's attitude and arrogance, Damon could pull it off. Stefan made me feel uneasy.

Stefan and I walked into school casually, and I pretended like everything was okay. It was the total opposite of that. As much as I disliked Damon's lifestyle, he has himself under control for the most part. Stefan changes emotionally, and he cannot handle it. Speaking of Damon, as I parted ways with Stefan for first period, my phone buzzed. It was Damon. Great.

 _Am I the only one watching Stefan?_

I ignored his text, not really in the mood to deal with Damon yelling at me for something I could not control, and sure enough, after a boring first period, my phone was ringing. Damon was calling me.

"Hi Damon. Sorry I didn't answer your text, my teacher took it from me while I was responding." Lying seemed pretty easy lately. Especially about my feelings towards Stefan's decision-making skills.

"You need to get out of school, Elena. I don't need Stefan getting all pissy, and creating a scene that involves you getting hurt, and me having to clean up after your mistake."

I rolled my eyes. Damon always falsely accused me of things, just to make it perfectly clear to everyone that he would show no remorse or guilt. "I had no idea he was going to be here Damon, and I don't understand why it's a big deal. He wouldn't hurt me in public." I honestly was not sure if I believed myself, but I sure as hell knew that is what I wanted to believe.

"Fine. You stay there. I don't even know why I try with you, since clearly your life means nothing. One less thing I have to concern myself with, anyways."

"I will. He won't hurt me." I contemplated continuing on the conversation briefly, but I decided it was not worth my time. "Goodbye, Damon." I hung up the phone, and went back to class.

The rest of the day went by fairly quickly. Stefan had invited himself over to my house after school, because we hadn't seen much of each other in a few weeks. I hesitantly agreed, because I did not want to upset him in any way lately. As much as I told myself he would not hurt me, it kept getting increasingly harder to believe. I did know that he did not want to, but his urges are so much stronger than any other vampire. The need for my blood, especially, set both me and him on edge.

When we arrived back at my house after school, we went upstairs to my room. "Stefan, I've missed you. And I know that all of this blood is hard for you to control right now, but you have to know that I still know who you really are. You can get through this Stefan, all you have to do is try."

"See, that's where you are confused Elena. This isn't some diet. I can't just try to stop drinking blood automatically, and go back to who I was when I met you. This is only a downward slope. I know you want to be in this with me, but then, you can't expect me to get better overnight. I'm not like the normal vampires. It's ten times harder for me." He looked tense, _very_ tense. I could see it in the way that he was standing perfectly still, and his hands were in fists.

For some stupid, and completely reckless reason, I walked over to him, quickly. I wrapped my arms around him and rested my head on his shoulder. I should have known that it was the hardest to be around my blood, before I did that. I could hear his breathing increase, and without any indication, he flung me against my wall, and my mirror happened to shatter from me hitting it. "Stefan, no!"

After that incident, everything went black. I remember hearing distant screaming for a minute, but then I could not hear anything.

When I woke up, I was in a dark room with drawn shut. I was definitely in the boarding house, but I had no idea who's room I was in, since there were so many. The door quietly opened up, and I immediately sat straight up. "Damon! Hi. What the hell happened?" I scrambled to get any words out, and I realized I had a pounding headache. There was also a huge gash on my leg. It was not bleeding, though.

"You certainly had quite a fight with Stefan, I'd say."

"No, we weren't fighting, he just lost control when I hugged him, and then everything went black after I slammed into my wall. I remember pain, that's it. Where is Stefan? How did you find me?" I was very confused as to what happened, and why I was with Damon.

"I called you two times, and at first I just assumed you didn't care to answer. But then I remembered I am irresistible to most people, so I decided to go over to your house to check on you." He had a smirk on his face, but then that expression turned into his more serious, cold expression. It was always so intimidating. "I smelled your blood from all the way outside, so I let myself inside. I went upstairs, and saw the so called Rabbit eater. I have to say, I'm impressed that he didn't finish what he almost did. There was a _lot_ of blood." He looked impressed with himself, and I rolled my eyes at him. "Joking, Elena." He said, sounding annoyed, but I could tell it was an act.

"Are you gonna continue the story or just stop there?" I asked, sounding mildly annoyed.

"He ran out, but before he told me something that starts with 'I'm,' and ends with, 'leaving Mystic Falls for a little bit'". He looked like I was going to break, which I probably would have if I wasn't in shock from how much pain I was still experiencing. Chances are, if he left me alone, I would eventually lose it. I couldn't even bring myself to carry on that part of the conversation we were having. I was going to ask about my injuries, so I looked down at my leg and touched my shoulder and face. I took in a breath, but he cut me off. "You slammed into your mirror, and you hit your forehead on your dresser. I fixed you all up, once Stefan left, but you won't be comfortable for awhile. You can try pain medication, but I wouldn't rely too much on that for relief." He said to me, with a completely monotone voice. As if nothing bad had just occurred.

"How long was I sleeping for? And who's room is this?" I asked, softly, but of course, Damon could still hear me.

"You're in my room." He gave me a smirk which made me even more annoyed, but I decided to let it go. After all, he did save my life, once again. "You were only out for about two hours, and you can stay here and rest if you want." He sounded like none of this was bothering him, but I could just barely see through him. His eyes always spoke more truth, than he did. I saw him turn around to leave, which arose some form of anxiety in my body. I felt unsafe after this afternoon.

"Where are you going?" I asked, sounding much more anxious than I intended to. That clearly grabbed his attention, because he quickly turned around, and eyed me for a few seconds, intensely, before responding to me.

"I'm going downstairs, to give you some space to rest. Why? Would you like me to stay here in bed with you? Although, I usually prefer not giving too much space to women in bed." He smirked at me, and walked back over to me. I was still in a sitting position on the bed, so I was now looking up at him. Somehow, he seemed to know that I would not have wanted to tell him that I wanted to go downstairs with him and just sleep there. "Actually, let's just go downstairs. You can sleep on the couch and I can make sure that your injuries are okay again, and keep an eye on you. Wouldn't want you making any more reckless decisions."

I rolled my eyes at his constant need to turn every nice moment into a sarcastic, or mocking remark. "Okay..let me just get up." I attempted getting out of his bed like any normal human being would, but my legs were in so much pain from being thrown against a wall into glass, that I could barely move. I looked at Damon, who seemed to get the message before I did. Instead of just grabbing my hand to help me, he picked me up in his arms, like I was a baby. He acted as if I was completely weightless. Typically, I would have told him to put me down, but since my body was so tired, I did not care. He brought me downstairs, and laid me down on the couch. He covered me with a huge, fluffy brown blanket, and I swore I saw something like compassion in his eyes. He broke eye contact off with me very quickly.

"Get some sleep, Elena. And tell me if you need anything." He said, and then he retrieved a book from his shelf and sat down on the far end of the large couch.

I nodded and gave him a brief smile, before I closed my eyes. I fell asleep within seconds, it seemed like.

* * *

I really hope you guys liked my first chapter! This is MUCH shorter than the length my other chapters will be! For a heads up, Stefan is not gone forever, but he is gone for a little bit. He comes back with a surprise visiter. Do you guys like the DE action? Next chapter, I'm thinking I will do a one month jump, just to get things started between them a little faster. If you guys are anything like me, I literally crave Delena, lol. Thank you again for reading, and please leave reviews. It would mean the world to me, since this is my first story.


	2. Without You

**Hi everyone, I am back! Quickly, because I was really excited to write the next chapter. Here is a quick thank you to Imarifirst, for my first review! I'm not sure if that sounds silly, but it really made me quite happy. Thank you to any other people who decided to follow my story! This chapter will be all, or mostly Delena, to see how there relationship is going after the one month jump I decided to do. Please stay tuned, and I seriously hope you guys still enjoy this!**

* * *

 **ELENA'S POV**

It had been one month since Stefan left Mystic Falls, without telling me. To put it simply, I was a complete mess, and Damon was forced to deal with me. Jenna believed that I was spending some time with family in Colorado, with the help of Damon's compulsion. I didn't know what I was supposed to do when I were to come back, so I stalled that a lot. I was staying at the boarding house, with Damon. He had made the guest room, my room. I was keeping up with my schoolwork with the help of Bonnie, who was disgusted that I kept living with Damon, but helped keep my secret. Damon also used his compulsion skills to make sure I didn't fail the last semester of my junior year. I hated the compulsion, but there was no other way. I couldn't go back to school, because Jenna would know. It's not that I couldn't stay with Jenna, it's that neither her, me, or Jeremy was safe with my presence.

Damon had been a good host to me, and surprisingly, he was sometimes nice to me. I could tell he cared about me, underneath the rude and selfish acts he could not stop doing. He always made me dinner, or at least bought me something, and would make sure that I slept well. He would seem to do anything that involved making me comfortable, but we rarely actually _hung_ out. Believe me, I was so, very grateful for him. If he had left as well, I would be a complete mess.

I began getting sick all the time, from anxiety, and probably depression. It started three weeks after Stefan abandoned me, and still continued. I felt weak, and what I hated the most was thinking that Damon thought that. I didn't want him to think of me as someone vulnerable, and that I was unable to take care of myself. Even if it was true. He never said anything, but I was sure that was exactly what he was thinking.

Another issue that had been occurring, was that I saw one or two women each night. Damon loved to bring women home with them, sleep with them, and feed on them, meanwhile I was alone the entire night, until I saw people leaving the house each night. Even though he had been taking pretty good care of me in Stefan's absence, this annoyed me, because I was the most lonely at night. I wanted to be with him, although I really did not know why. I told myself that I just needed anyone, but I honestly was not sure if anyone except Damon could fill the hole that was inside of me. Not even I could understand what the hell that meant. He just made me feel less lonely, and sometimes I would laugh. That was only on a rare occasion, though.

One night, he came into the house with four other girls, which made me immensely annoyed. I knew it was not a good idea, but I had to confront him about this. I could barely deal with one girl being used and bitten every single night, but four, that was completely out of hand. When the four, of course, blonde and beautiful girls went up the stairs, I stepped in front of Damon. I glanced back at the girls, who certainly made me feel insecure about myself, and then looked up at Damon, extremely aggravated. "What the hell is this? You know, Damon, I'm getting really sick and tired of having to see this all happen, every single night. I am living here!" I exclaimed, not at all trying to be quiet, even though other people were in the house at the time.

He took in a deep breath, and sighed loudly, just to annoy me. "Two things. You're not watching, but you could if you wanted to." He smirked and raised his eyebrows, as he stepped closer to me. "And second, this isn't your house, it's mine. That means I can do whatever I want. I don't need your permission, I never have." Now, he actually looked slightly annoyed.

I thought I could keep my cool, and not lose it in front of him for the first time, but of course, I can't control any of my emotions. For some reason, my mind told me he was about to walk out on me, or just kick me out at that moment. That is the damage that Stefan had caused me, from just randomly leaving. I felt tears as they started forming in my eyes, and he gave me a strange, confused look. "You can't do this anymore! Because I'm gonna keep getting upset and blow up on you, and you're going to get pissed and make me leave, or leave yourself." Those probably were not the only reasons he should stop sleeping with these girls. "If you can't tell, I got really bad at hiding my feelings from people lately, including you." I should have stopped trying to explain myself, but I couldn't go back now. "You never talk to me unless you're asking what I want to eat, or if I'm vomiting! Don't get me wrong, I'm so beyond grateful that you are letting me stay here. But you are all I currently have, since I can't go anywhere. It is making me absolutely crazy not even having you!" At this point, I was basically screaming at him. "Stop sleeping with these girls every single night, and completely neglecting me!" I was almost scaring myself, because of how loud I was being.

I was expecting him to blow up at me, maybe even worse than I had, but I was taken by surprise. "Okay." He said to me, like it didn't even matter. He used his vampire speed to get up the stairs, leaving me speechless and confused. In just a few moments, he and four other girls, who were giggling, came down the stairs, and walked out the door, shutting it behind them. Damon casually walked down the stairs, and stood in front of me. His face returned to a slightly cold expression. "Done."

Once again, he left me utterly speechless, and he turned around, going back upstairs. I heard his door slam, and that was it.

* * *

 **ELENA'S POV**

The next morning, I woke up earlier than usual, at about 7:00am. I went to the bathroom, washed my face, and put my hair up. I walked out slowly, with a slight headache, and left my room, making my way downstairs, quietly. I glanced at Damon's door, which was open, so he must have been up. It was much earlier than usual for him to be awake, unless he had something to do that day, or he was pissed. I went into the kitchen to get water, not really in the mood to be eating. Last night's argument with Damon had stressed me out, making me feel slightly off. I grabbed a glass of water, and as I was about to turn around to leave the kitchen, I heard the front door slam shut. _Great_ , I thought to myself.

Before I could say anything to Damon, he already responded to me. "Pack your bags. We're leaving. Going to Pennsylvania. Just for three days." He said, and I looked very confused.

"I've never even heard you mention Pennsylvania, so why exactly are we going there?" I asked, with concern in my eyes. He looked like he had something important to say. I knew exactly who this trip was about.

"I got a call from the evil vampire slut. Katherine, if you didn't know who I was talking about." He paused, almost as if he was expecting me to smile, or laugh about that, but I wasn't in the mood. "Stefan is there. She found him, and I know where he is. Not sure why he is there, though. He is staying in a fairly large area, so I have my suspicions to what he is doing there." He said, looking into my eyes to figure out what reaction I would have.

"He's killing innocent people, isn't he?" I said, sounding disgusted, but also pretty calm and collected for what I was processing in my head. I had been expecting this. "So are we gonna bring him back?" I asked him, looking straight back into his eyes. Sometimes I found myself not being able to concentrate, looking at his eyes. They were such a beautiful shade of blue, and a hint of green. I knew I shouldn't have been thinking about Damon, when this was clearly about Stefan, so I stopped myself right away.

"That's up to him. You can try, but it's ultimately his decision. I don't know if he's going to want to come back, Elena. I don't even know if his humanity is on or off." He didn't seem hopeful, which bothered me. I didn't know how he could just give up on his brother so quickly. I guess he did know what Stefan was like in this state of mind, better than I did.

"I still have hope, Damon. And I really believe that he will too, if he sees me. I can't give up, you can't either, not now. Please." I didn't even want to know his response, so I just made my way up to my room, and grabbed the small suitcase, which he put there before I woke up, without me even knowing.

I grabbed a few pairs of jeans, shirts, and a few pairs of pajamas, undergarments, and socks. Something inside of me felt weird, and I suddenly felt nauseous. I knew what this was, so I ran to my bathroom, and keeled down in front of the toilet. I ended up throwing up two times, and I heard Damon approaching the bathroom. I attempted kicking the door closed, but he just pushed it back open and pulled me up by my arms, with his hands. He brushed a piece of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail, and put it behind my ear. I looked up at him, with tears in my eyes, but I could tell I wasn't going to cry about this. It happened far too often to cry. "We can stall a little bit if you're not feeling good." He said, looking genuinely concerned about my well being.

"No, I'm totally fine. Just anxiety. I'll be okay. I always am." I gave him the slightest of a smile, and he took a step back, and grabbed my toothbrush, and other facial and body care items, packing them away in my suitcase.

"Then let's get going. It's a five hour drive. We're going to go directly to Stefan when we get there, so prepare yourself for the worst." He sounded completely serious, which made my stomach turn, but I then nodded slowly.

"Then why are we staying for three days?" I rolled my eyes, not understanding his logic, whatsoever.

"We can't bring you and him back to Mystic Falls, at the same time. It will look a little weird to people." _What a bad excuse,_ I thought to myself.

"Fine. Let's go."

x

The car ride went by fairly quickly. The last hour, Damon really had been getting on my nerves, as he always tried to.

"Where are we staying?" I asked, looking out the passenger seat window.

"The Rittenhouse hotel in a presidential suite." He responded. I looked at him, with a very confused look on my face.

"That's crazy expensive for three days, Damon. A normal room is all that's necessary in this situation.

"What can I say? I like to live in luxury, and I figured this hotel would accommodate that." I knew he liked to live extravagantly, but something told me that he didn't do this for himself at all. "Besides, nothing it too expensive for a vampire." He looked over at me briefly, and smirked.

After we stopped at a Panera fast food place, he drove, until we stopped in front of a run down looking apartment complex. I looked over at Damon, who looked slightly stressed out. "I want to go in alone." I knew he was immediately going to say no, so I started talking almost immediately following what I had said. "You can hear perfectly well if you listen, and you can smell my blood if that happens, again."

He looked extremely irritated for what seemed like forever, then nodded and got out of the car, and used his vampire speed to get over the my side of the car. He opened my door for me, and I got out of the car. Before I walked in, he stepped in front of me, and put his hands on my shoulders. "If he tries to hurt you, scream. He's not going to get away with that again, I promise. I won't let him hurt you, Elena. Not again." I looked up at him, and I hugged him. He barely hugged me back, but I didn't really care at all.

"Thank you, Damon." He gave me a quick nod, gave me which room his apartment was, and I walked in. Stefan's apartment was on the first floor, which made things easier for many reasons.

As I approached his room, I heard loud music playing. I sighed, shakily, and I knocked on the door loudly. I heard the music get turned down, and something glass was put down, because a loud bang. It didn't shatter, though. I could hear him walk towards the door, and I could feel my heart beating inside my chest. He opened the door quickly, and I could tell by his reaction, that he was definitely not expecting me. "Elena?" He questioned, as if he couldn't tell if it was me. "Leave."

"No, Stefan. I came here for you. You need to come home. Please, Stefan." I looked at him, with tears forming in my eyes. He stared back at me, emotionless, and my heart sunk. _No, he couldn't have. He wouldn't_ , I thought to myself. He had turned his emotions off. I could tell by his frozen and carefree facial expression. "No..you didn't.." I trailed off, and looked up at him with a tear falling down my face.

"What? Turn my emotions off? I actually did, but nice guess." His face turned from carefree, to looking like he was irritated, although I guess that couldn't happen with his emotions off. I couldn't believe what was happening. I couldn't comprehend what was happening, my ex boyfriend had officially chose blood, over coming back home with me. "If you don't come back with me Stefan, you're gonna lose me forever" I was stammering a lot. "You need to come back with me, Stefan. I can't breathe without you. I can't do this. I miss you, I miss us. Don't do this to yourself!" I was hysterical at this point, and he just blankly looked right at me.

I tried stepping towards him, but he put his arm out. "If you come near me, Damon won't have anyone in the car with him on the way back Mystic Falls." He pushed me back ever so slightly. How did he know that Damon was even with me? He must have just assumed. Or Katherine told him we were coming. "Leave, Elena. Now. Don't come back, because I don't want you here. You are saying all this relationship stuff, and all I can think about is your blood, pumping through your veins. So, I'm going to close this door and you're going to leave. Now." That was it. He slammed the door in my face, and I felt like my whole life was shattered. I couldn't think or breathe. I tried making my way back to the car, but I felt like everything was spinning. I stopped walking for a second to catch my breath, and wipe my tears with my shirt sleeve. I took a few deep breaths, and then walked into the lobby and out to the street, where Damon's car and him were. Damon was sitting in the driver's seat. My hands were shaking, but I managed to get the car door open, and I sat down quietly. I didn't even know what to say. I felt broken, and stupid for having hope.

"Was he there?" He said in a casual tone, not looking at me, yet.

"Yeah. He's here to stay." I spoke quietly, so I could try to keep myself from breaking down in front of him. I looked to my right, facing away from him, hoping he would just drive. To my luck, he started the car.

"Unless you want to stay here for the afternoon, and spend the night, then we can go home." He said, and I could feel his eyes on me even when I wasn't looking at him.

Wanting to do something besides being holed up in the boarding house, I decided we might as well spend one night. "Let's stay here for one night." I managed to look over at him, and he nodded.

"Good. I'm taking you to a bar. I know the witch who runs it, so you'll be fine going there." I probably shouldn't have been going to bar in this state of mind, but Damon would keep me grounded, hopefully. I faked a smile and then buckled my seatbelt. He put his car in drive, and started driving. The area became more isolated, rather than the city atmosphere we found Stefan in. The entire car ride, Damon avoided the topic of Stefan. I was pretty sure he had heard the entire conversation from the car.

It took about thirty minutes of dead silence, until we pulled into a parking lot. The bar didn't even have a name, so I was surprised that Damon even knew it existed. Then again, he had been around awhile. I stepped out of the car, and walked towards him. As Damon and I walked in together, he had his hand on the small of my back, which made my heart beat faster. I once again had to tell my mind to shut up.

The bartender, whose name was Gloria, a witch, introduced herself to me, and caught up with Damon for a few minutes. Damon told me he knew her from her helping him like fifty years ago. She aged well, due to a spell to keep her as young as possible. It would catch up eventually, though. "What are you two drinking?" I was about to say I was underage, but then Damon interrupted, and said, "Two bourbons, neat." I raised my eyebrows at him, but went along with at.

Gloria gave us our drinks, and then began attending to other customers at her bar. Damon looked at me, and raised his glass. "Here's to new beginnings," he said, with a slightly sarcastic tone, and he smirked at me. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

 **Hi again! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Damon will become more soft as the story continues, in case you were wondering. And no, Stefan is still not gone forever. PLEASE leave reviews! Also tell me what you want for more Damon and Elena moments. I want your help and feedback! I have finals soon, so I will probably be posting either this Sunday, or next Friday, but stay tuned.** **Thank you for reading!**


	3. Important Announcement

Hi everyone. This is **not** a new chapter, this is just an announcement. I will continue writing this story, although I am disappointed because I do not have any views. I am going to write a chapter 3 shortly, I just need to share the reasoning as to why I have not posted a chapter. I recently went through a very unexpected, and traumatic death of a father like figure to me. These past few weeks have been absolutely crazy, and I have not had time to write. The creative side to me is appearing in me at a more intense level, due to the death. I am not sure why that is happening, but I feel more creative and appreciative of my talent, and other people's talent as well. I am so sorry if this is a little bit annoying, in case you wanted a new chapter, but I only have one review, so I stalled a lot and then he died. I am going to write a chapter this week, and if it is not out this week, it definitely will be next. Thank you so much for reading.

\- Molly xoxo


	4. A New Visitor

**Hi everyone! I'm going to be back to my weekly updates now, check out my last chapter if you have no idea what I am talking about. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

 **Damon's POV**

I took Elena to Gloria's bar for a number of different reasons. I needed to return to what I originally came back to Mystic Falls for. Katherine. Elena had been taking up most of my time with her and Stefan's teenage relationship drama. I also felt slightly bad for her, and I figured, what harm can drinking do? I could already tell after Elena had her second bourbon, because she was becoming less sober, and less annoying. Lately, while taking care of her after Stefan left, she got on my nerves quite a lot. Not that I didn't enjoy being on suicide watch 24/7, but it was nice to be at a bar, with a more carefree Elena.

Elena carefully got out of her barstool, making sure not to trip, and said, "I'm going to the bathroom, can you get me another drink?". She was still her usual, quiet self, but she was less upset than she was after her encounter with Stefan. I just gave her a nod, without looking at her. I could feel her staring at me momentarily, but then she walked straight to the bathroom. I ordered Elena a more sweet drink, rather than bourbon, and I heard her crying in the bathroom. I wasn't listening, she just was not being quiet enough for a vampire's ears. I frowned very slightly, and shook my head. Stefan had just caused her so much pain. Gloria handed me Elena's drink, and gave me a smile. "So if it's not Katherine, who is it? She's clearly not just another blood bag for you." Gloria said to me, with squinted eyes, still smiling a little bit. "It's Elena Gilbert, and if you're wondering why she looks so pathetic, it's because my idiot brother left a month ago, and then decided to flip the switch on her," I responded, rolled my eyes, and downed my drink quickly.

"Ouch. Well if she's irritating you, I'm sure you out of all people can get rid of her, and leave as well." Gloria said that almost as if she was being serious.

"Too important to leave. I need her for Katherine stuff."

She eyed me up and down and laughed. "Uh huh, sure. _Katherine stuff."_

I sensed Elena's presence, and turned around. I knew she hadn't actually used the bathroom, but I didn't want to embarrass her anymore for the day.

Elena took in a deep breath, and then exhaled, getting her jacket on. "I changed my mind, I want to go home." She sounded very monotone for her normal self.

"Nope. We go to a bar, we stay here for at least five hours. Maybe just until you're drunk." I smirked at her and she rolled her eyes, and then I saw a look in her eye that I had seen this afternoon after she came out of the apartment complex where Stefan was. She was either about to yell at me, or start crying, so I gave her a confused look.

"Fine, but I need to go outside for a minute, it's too hot in here." I knew that was total bullshit, because it was boiling hot outside, and cold in here, but I nodded, and she walked out the door. I could hear her pacing back and forth, and whispering to herself to not act childish, and to shut up. It almost made me laugh, because she thought she had to pull herself together. I contemplated going outside after her, and after a minute I decided to. I put on my leather jacket, and handed Gloria a bill much too large for what we ordered, but money was not really an issue for me.

"Don't make her fall for you, Damon. She's broken." I didn't respond to Gloria when she said that to me, and it pissed me off how she thought Elena was completely broken. She might even have been right, but to hear her say it aggravated the hell out of me.

* * *

 **Elena's POV**

I did not know why I was having this reaction to earlier today, since I had already managed to get through one month without Stefan. I guess I still had hope, and today's short visit with Stefan shattered it completely. I really did not want to be at a bar with Damon, but of course he could not pass on anything if it involved alcohol. As I was lost in my thoughts, I heard the entrance to the bar open and I turned around, and saw Damon. "You can go back in there, I'll be there in a minute." I said, and rolled my eyes slightly, which I hoped he didn't notice.

"We can actually leave. Gloria's pissing me off anyway."

"How do you even know her?"

"Doesn't matter, just knew her awhile back. She's a witch." I looked at him, slightly surprised, but then again, it seemed as if anyone I ever met turned out to be something supernatural.

He looked at me for a moment, and then pointed to the car, and started walking. I felt a little guilty for making him leave, especially because he was acting kind of irritated with me. He was driving for about twenty minutes, when I turned to him and asked, "Are we going to the hotel or back to Mystic Falls?".

"Home." He continued to look straight at the road, and a lot of time passed by, and before I knew it, I fell asleep.

* * *

 **Damon's POV**

Once Elena fell asleep, it was easier for me to think straight. I could tell she thought I was annoyed with her, which I wasn't. Well, I don't know if that is exactly true, because I did want to find out more information on Katherine, but I came to the conclusion that Elena might be more important just for today. I hated Stefan for making her feel this way, but hopefully she could now start moving on with her life. School did start in one week.

A few hours later, after my mind drifted away from random things and became more blank, I looked over at Elena, who was still asleep. She hadn't been sleeping at all lately, and I'm wasn't sure how to help her at all. She did not look peaceful, she looked on edge, but that could have been from sleeping in a car for hours. I hoped she just stayed asleep for the rest of the car ride, so I wouldn't have to make small talk about random things.

When I looked away from her, it was because I realized that I hadn't fed in a long time, which made me uncomfortable. I would never hurt Elena, but her blood was always very tempting if I were to be hungry. I approached the sign that read, 'Welcome to Mystic Falls" and I sighed a breath of relief that she stayed asleep for the entire car ride.

About fifteen minutes passed by, and I pulled into the driveway of the Boarding House. I decided to grab her stuff and bring them in the house for her, and then I walked back outside and opened Elena's car door. I didn't want to wake her, but I decided that she wouldn't want me to let her sleep all evening and night.

I rubbed her shoulder gently, and she started to stir, so I whispered her name.

"Damon..", she responded quietly and opened her eyes, looking at me.

"We're home." I said, sounding completely emotionless, and she unbuckled her seatbelt, and got out of the car, after I stepped away. I closed her car door behind her, and we both walked inside.

"I'm so tired, still." She said, casually, taking her jacket off and putting it on the couch.

"You can go to bed if you want. Just assumed you would want to shower or eat something."

"I can't eat anything, but I'll shower. Where should I sleep?" I looked at her with a puzzled expression, but I soon realized she was asking me where she should sleep, because she always slept in Stefan's room. I was going to tell her to sleep in one of the guest rooms, but the beds were uncomfortable, at least compared to Stefan's or my bed.

"My room." I looked at her and smirked, and then decided to change the subject. "I need to feed, are you okay by yourself for a little bit?"

She looked at me with an annoyed face, and then asked, "Are you killing someone?".

"No, don't you remember your panic attack the other day when I brought girls home?" I asked her, sarcastically, and she rolled her eyes. "I have to go to the hospital and get blood bags."

She nodded slowly. "I'm gonna shower, and then go to bed. I'll be fine on my own." She gave me a brief smile, and then proceeded to walk upstairs. I heard her go into my bedroom and walk into the bathroom. I smirked to myself, and then walked out the door to go to the hospital.

* * *

 **Elena's POV**

Damon definitely had the most beautiful, and clean bathroom I have ever seen. It was huge and luxurious, unlike Stefan's. Stefan's was always clean, but unorganized. After admiring his bathroom for a minute, I undressed, and turned on his shower. I didn't want to use his shower products, because I didn't want to annoy him, so I looked under his sink, and I found products and a wash cloth. He was definitely prepared for girls to be using his bathroom, which for some reason, made me feel a twinge of jealousy. I shook it off, and stepped into the shower.

After showering, I wrapped a towel around me, and grabbed pajamas from my bag, and changed into them in his room. I put my clothes in his laundry basket, and I walked over to his bed. It felt weird thinking that I was going to be sleeping in Damon Salvatore's bed, but he told me I could, so it was fine. I wanted to sleep on his side of the bed, because I did not know, or want to know, how many girls have been on the other side of that bed. It felt strange and annoyed me. I got under the covers of Damon's sheets, and I realized his bed smelled exactly like Damon. Fresh, but masculine. I told myself to stop being weird, and just go to bed. I heard the front door open, but I stayed where I was, because I knew it was just Damon getting home.

I didn't want him to walk into his room, because I still felt uncomfortable sleeping in his bedroom.

For a few minutes I didn't hear anything, so I closed my eyes to try and fall asleep, and then I suddenly heard footsteps up the stairs. _Of course._ He opened his bedroom door, closing it behind him, as if he was not going to leave. I opened my eyes, and sat up, turning to my side to turn the lamp on, which wasn't exactly necessary, but I did it anyway.

"Just to let you know, if you want to pretend to be sleeping, you gotta work on your breathing." He said to me, sarcastically, and smirked. "But then again, it is me you were about to see, so I understand."

I rolled my eyes, and he walked towards the other side of the bed, sitting down on it, but facing me. I gave him a worried look, and shot back an irritated look, but it was obvious he was kidding.

"Don't worry, Elena. I'm not sleeping here. I'll be on the couch downstairs." He said, putting on an act, like he was annoyed with me.

"I feel bad, this is your bed. I can always sleep on the couch, if it's easier." He shook his head at me.

"You're fine where you are." I sat there in silence for a moment, feeling some kind of tension around us, so I decided to bring up a random topic.

"So I saw girly products under your sink, I'm guessing you like to be very prepared for all of your guests?" My tone came off sounding very jealous, which I did not intend to have happen. _Dammit._

I was expecting him to make fun of me, but he got up and walked over to his shower and grabbed the products I had used. "This nice stuff, is what I buy for you." He smirked, and then knelt down to the cabinet I had yet to open and pulled out some drugstore products that were still good, but not high end, and held them up. "This stuff is for others."

"Oh. Sorry." I was left speechless, which was something Damon could always make happen. He put everything back where it belonged, and walked back over, but this time stood over me.

"You need to go to sleep, Elena. I know you slept for most of the car ride today, but the last time you got over four hours a week was before Stefan left." His facial expression was serious, and I sighed.

"I can't. I have dreams about every horrible thing that has happened, but now he's not here, and I don't know what to do. I already started to feel better about him being gone a few weeks ago, but..I don't know, it's still just hard. I miss him, and Jeremy, and Jenna, and Caroline, and Bonnie. This was like a breakup times ten. And I have you, but then I feel like crap because you are dealing with every single aspect of my life, and it must be annoying.." I trailed off at the end, realizing I was rambling, and that he was walking to the other side of the bed, and getting under the covers. "What are you doing?" I asked, confused.

" _You_ are going to go to bed. _I_ am going to take your bad dreams away." He said, very simply, looking at me.

"No, Damon, I don't want to annoy you anymore-" He cut me off, quickly.

"I won't take no for an answer." He smirked, and pulled the covers over me, and reached over me to turn the lamp off. I turned onto my side, and I was facing him. A part of me wanted to get closer to him, but it was too soon, and weird for me to do that.

Damon's presence was oddly relaxing, and I found myself drifting off fairly quick. It was not long before I fell asleep.

* * *

 **Damon's POV**

She looked beautiful, and finally, peaceful. I was tired, but I didn't let myself fall asleep for a long time. She was moving around a lot in her sleep, but I could tell she wasn't having any nightmares. She almost hit me in the face with her arm by accident, but I gently moved her arm away, and then she ended up with her near the side of my chest, since I was on my back. One of her hands touching my arm, and she stopped moving around so much, after this.

Another two hours passed by, and I ended up falling asleep, with Elena still in the same position.

* * *

 **Elena's POV**

I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling really cold, even with all of my covers on. I knew I was near Damon, but he wasn't that cold. Maybe I was becoming ill, of course, right before school. I sat up in Damon's bed, and tapped him on the shoulder lightly, to ask him where more blankets were.

He immediately woke up, as if he was barely sleeping, and ran his fingers through his hair lazily, and then looked at me. "What's wrong?" He asked, quietly.

"Where do you keep blankets? I'm freezing."

"I'll go get them, you can lie down, I'll be right back." He turned on the lamp that was next to him, and walked to his closet, and grabbed two large blankets. He looked back at me, and instantly looked concerned. "You look sick." He stated, walking over to me. He placed the blankets over the bed, which made me feel more warm. He placed the back of his hand on my forehead, and then cupped my face with his hand. "And you have a fever."

"Can we just take care of this in the morning? I'm tired." I looked into his eyes, and a few seconds later, he removed his hand from my face, and nodded.

He got back into bed, and turned the light off.

"What if I get you sick?" Immediately after saying that, I realized the stupidity of that question, and I sighed, annoyed with myself. "Don't answer that."

"Goodnight, Elena." He said in a monotone, but relaxed voice.

I rolled over on my side, and realized I was almost touching Damon's body. Before I could think too much into that, I fell asleep, feeling much more comfortable than before.

* * *

When I woke up, I was rolled over, facing away from Damon. I felt awful. I had the chills, and it felt like my body hurt from head to toe.

"How do you feel?" I never quite understood how he can always tell when I'm awake, but I decided not to question.

"Horrible. Everything hurts, and I feel so cold. This is such bad timing, school starts in less than a week." I looked immensely annoyed, and I sat up to look at him, even though it hurt like hell.

"Do you want pain medication?" He asked, and I shook my head.

"I feel like it never works, so I don't want to even bother." I exhaled loudly.

He nodded. "Are you okay with what happened with Stefan yesterday?" I had been waiting for him to ask that, and looked him in the eyes.

"I'm not fine that he gave up, but I think I'm going to be okay with the fact that he's gone. I need to get on with my life, without him." It only stung a little to say that.

"Well now that I know you are feeling okay about Stefan, I have some news that you won't like." He looked intense, but there was a glow in his eyes.

"What is it?" I was nervous and confused.

"Katherine is back."

Wasn't she in the tomb?

* * *

 **I wish this chapter was longer. I'm so sorry! This was not a good week of grieving for me. More to come next week. Please leave reviews, it will mean SO much to me! Thank you to those of you who are sticking around!**


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